So I did a road race today here around Austin (Pace bend cat 4/5) and in our 1h race there were 3 nasty crashes, which involved at least three ambulance rides. It was pretty scary, and probably at least half of the people involved in the crashes were not “at fault” - someone else being stupid put them in the road.
So, this got me thinking a bit afterward, and I thought I’d ask here. Do you risk it?
Funny you ask.
I did my first road race yesterday. It was kinda fun and a good 3 hour high intensity workout. I had no clue what to expect and was actually expecting to get dropped off the front pack pretty quickly but I was able to hang in for a lot longer than I thought. Even more fun that my team went 1st, 2nd and 5th. I’ll try it again in a couple of weeks.
I did 3 training crits and one “real” crit and the men’s 5s had tons of crashes and the women’s 4s (beginners) really rode much cleaner.
clm
Yup - lots of fun! A little dangerous, yes, but most of crashes are at the end in the bunch sprints that often ensue in Cat 5 or 4 races. Still less “dangerous” than crits!
I’ve flipped my racing concentration. The first year I did a few crits and rr’s and 10-12 short distance tri’s. Last year I did around 50 rr and crits and 1 triathlon. This year it’s 3 stage races and a handful of bike only events and I’ll squeeze the locl tri in if possible. Triathlon really got me into bike only events, but I like the instant feedback and competition of road racing more.
Raced in college, there were some dodgy moments in road races (riders coming out of pedals on finishing sprints type things) but mostly the nasty spills were more likely to happen in the crits. Guys wiping out through the turns and sometimes taking 1 or 2 more with them (though most of the wipe outs I saw happened when riders that were on the outside tried to make a dive into the turns from too far out and ended up just taking themselves out). Though the guys on the college teams are (for the most part) a bit better at bike handling crashes can still happen. Like it’s always said “there are two types of cyclists, those that have crashed and those that will”. If it’s gonna happen it’ll happen, just keep your head on a swivel and don’t be the guy CAUSING the crash and you’ll be good. Road racing is a lot of fun, I miss it.
Last year was my first year doing tris and I did 4. My roadie friends tell me I should just race my road bike (Fuji SL1c) but I really like doing tris… I’m kind of torn between my friends and doing tris… Maybe it’s just because my roadie friends hate getting spanked by a triathlete!
Like those who posted above, I do road races as they are fun and the attitude is just so different from triathlon, at least for me. At a tri, it’s you trying to get to the finish as fast as you can, you control 99% of how the race will go. Bike races are totally different as it’s all about beating other people. I enjoy the road races more than crits as I just don’t have the short term power needed to race well at crits and then I just end up in all the wrong places, i.e. in the middle or at the back where things often go wrong.
I’ve raced a couple omniums (TT, road race, Crit in one weekend) last season since they start earlier than tri’s in the NW. Racing three times in two days really wiped me out, but it seemed to help my bike fitness. To be honest, the rr and crit scared the crap out of me since I was racing “Crash 5’s”, not to mention the first crit I did was in the rain with lots of manhole covers. Is it worth the risk? I sometimes wonder that about getting out of bed in the morning, everything is dangerous, if you love it and enjoy it, go for it, but if you can’t afford to replace it, don’t race on it :)!
No road races, i’ll do some time trials this year but i cant be replacing a ton of bike/body parts right now. Paying and training well in advance for “A” races certainly makes you think a little bit about decisions you make regarding your well being! They would be fun to get into at some point, just not now.
I did my second (do this race annually) road race today. There were probably 150 people who started, the over 40 cat5’s caught up to the under 40 within a matter of miles, and then we all ended up together. There were 5 crashes that I saw, three that seemed serious, and only 20 people made it to the final sprint together of which 10 of them took themselves out in a crash 100’ from the line. I (think) I ended up about 10th overall basically from being lucky about placement during the crashes and being able to ride through/around and catch back up rather quickly. I doubt I’ll do another road race, way too risky for my taste. Hopefully they’ll add a TT for next year.
I did my 5th road race of 08 today (the pace bend race you did, Cat5)
Yes, it is dangerous but it really breaks up the months until the first tri of the season. Have fun, be careful and race your heart out
Mine was Froze Toes, in Columbia Missouri. What a crashfest. I’m going to ‘pitch’ the RD about adding a TT next year in the morning before the race itself, in an effort of removing some of the field form the race and hopefully some of the crashes. I just couldn’t imagine doing these with any frequency and risking injury. One dude, in the final sprint to the line broke his collar bone, one guy had a bum leg (he and I were discussing our sprint strategies in the final 5 miles, mine was to watch the chaos, his was to go for it, afterward he said he should have hung out with me like he did for the first 30.95miles of the race). Three ambulances came with lights and sirens so I think someone else was messed up too. Crazy stuff. That just doesn’t happen, for the most part, in triathlons.
Sure, I have raced 8 times in the past 4 weeks. Raced ~30 times last season, plan to race about 30-35 this season. Seen lots of crashes, its just part of the game. Do your best to stay out of danger, and ride safe, that’s about all you can do, the rest is just luck.
Cross your fingers and cat up as fast as you can.
I pray alot.
Today was my second of the season but I was in the 4/5’s. It was carnage out there.
At one point early in one of the loops (I think…) I was taking a corner at high-ish speed and heard behind me the unmistakable sound of bike frames doing terrible terrible things.
There was a wreck in the final sprint by the front pack about 200 meters from the finish line. I was just off that pack and weaved through wreckage to get to the finish line.
At the very last second, during the sprint for first, my buddy got edged out and cut off hard by a member of another team. This send that guy reportedly into the poles of the tower that were marking the finish line and some poor spectator girl, who had come out onto the road at the finish line to get a good look at the wreck down the road, was plowed into by my buddy and suffered some pretty good road rash all over her shoulder.
Crashfest. Ugh. The people in the crash at the finish line walked away, there were ambulances at the crashes 200m out and earlier in the race.
thats funny. thats exactly what i did two weeks ago at valley of sun stage race. tied for 1st GC(same exact time) and i was right behind the guy on the last lap, gonna let him lead me out. i took the turn wide and turned in to far and my back wheel slid out. it was just me crashing and ended up getting 2nd GC because of it. next time im racing on 23mm clinchers…lesson learned
So I did a road race today here around Austin (Pace bend cat 4/5) and in our 1h race there were 3 nasty crashes, which involved at least three ambulance rides. It was pretty scary, and probably at least half of the people involved in the crashes were not “at fault” - someone else being stupid put them in the road.
So, this got me thinking a bit afterward, and I thought I’d ask here. Do you risk it?
I have done many Cat 4 and 5 races (currently a Cat 4) and seen many crashes. Fortunately I have never been involved.
My thoughts on how I have avoided crashes.
Stay at the very front or the very back. I prefer the back. Yes you have to work harder out of corners and you are susceptable to break getting away, but it is easy to stay safe. Once I got in shape I never got dropped off the back of the peleton and have never had trouble working my way up when I really needed to.
Pick your spots. If you are a triathlete, you are not going to win any sprint finishes, so don’t be stupid at the end of the race. If it is a bunch sprint, stay safe, finish with the field and survive to race another day.
Avoid crits. I have actually done two and neither had any crashes.
Pick hard races. A 40 mile flat road race is bound to be trouble (like your one hour race, it is pretty much going to be a free for all). I like the hilly 50 - 60 mile races (I will have two on the calendar this spring). There will be selections to winnow the field and get the pack down to a manageable size, or else there will be breaks. Either way it is a safer situation.
I did my first road races last year, I think I did 3. I was amazed at how fun they are, even more fun than tri’s in my opinion. I didn’t see any crashes, but I would definitely agree with triyoda that you need to be smart.
I won’t do a crit. I also won’t get involved in trying to win a sprint with 50 other guys. I’ll never win it and it’s not worth the risk. Staying at the back is still fun and feels pretty safe, you just have to work harder, which is fine with me.
All 3 races I did last year had packs that broke up really quickly to thin out the race and make it safer. One was really long and hilly, the other 2 were short but had a lot of steep climbs. The lead pack dwindled to about 10 in both of these. There was only one sketchy moment when one guy looked over his shoulder and veered left almost overlapping wheels.
I sure wish they were safer, but man are they fun. For this year, I’ll pick my races wisely again. I’ll look for challenging races, and if I don’t think I can contend for a podium, I’ll just sit in on the back for as long as possible, then fade out during the sprint and cross the finish line with a smile.
I did 1 road race last year in Brooklyn and I’m pretty sure no one crashed, CAT 5, then again I got dropped, then lapped later in the race so I was just cruising along solo.
I’m racing Collegiate season this year and did a TT on Saturday (awesome!!) and Cat C road on Sunday, 3 pretty bad wrecks…
2mins into the race, 5+ riders down, my teammate had to bunny hop a kid and others just got run over
last downhill before the hill finish, kid seemed alright but his fork/handle bars had snapped off… there went his expensive Specialized.
The finish, it was a fight for 2nd and 3rd and the racers caught a car driving really slow so as they swung around it one guy was taken out pretty hard and the ambulance was called.
Lucky (I guess) for me I got dropped 5 miles into the race… looks like I need to drop down a Category. I do wonder if it’s worth it though as I’m getting ready for Ironman Arizona in April. I’ll just hammer the TT’s and chill out and be safe on the road races I guess.
I’m doing more bike races than tris this year (a lot more). I see a couple of people saying “you’re a triathlete, stay out of the sprint, stay in the back…”. If that was my mindset I’d stick to triathlons. If you suck at sprints, work on 'em. 
Even though the crits are admittedly more dangerous and I don’t like dodging potholes and cobblestone cracks more than anyone else, my body type’s probably more suited to doing well in them and I like the adrenaline rush. I haven’t crashed in one yet although I went up on the curb twice in Gainesville a couple of weeks ago with a flat rear tire.
You seem very scared of cycling. Isn’t it stressful always worrying about crashing? Are you an accountant?